Venue Hire

Set the stage for stunning events!

The ideal venue for your event, be it a business conference, awards ceremony, away day, team meeting or workshop. Here at the Playhouse, we’re perfectly placed for networking, entertaining clients, family socials and special celebrations.

Talk to us about your event ideas. Book a walk-around with our events team to turn them into reality. We’ll suggest the best combination of spaces to make it great.

Our spaces and food and drinks packages can all be tailored to meet your needs.

We’ve got:

Flexible spaces available for exclusive hire, configured, linked or divided to meet your needs
Great food and drinks packages
Space for live entertainment, bands and DJs
Bars on two floors, mobile bar carts and a late license
Skilled in-house teams to ensure your lighting and sound is spot on

You can also hire our spaces for wedding celebrations and filming and location projects.

Join our Business Circle for exclusive venue hire and ticket discounts

Perfect for entertaining clients and rewarding your team at our Playhouse!

I thought the venue and room were great! Everyone was really friendly and helpful. The biggest win for me though was the food – the vegetarian / vegan options were genuinely the best I’ve had for a while. It was so nice to have so many options. I would recommend this venue to anyone and will be encouraging us to book there in the future! (Alfred H Knight, March 2025)

We were delighted with our recent hire for our Franchisee/Supplier engagement day at Shakespeare North playhouse – it is a unique venue, and so much nicer than the countless basement conference facilities we’ve used in the past. All of our attendees commented on the great ‘feel’ of the spaces used. The team could not have been more helpful, and we were really impressed with their support and accommodating attitude. I also have to comment on the food, which was of excellent quality, and got several thumbs up on our internal review document. Thanks Fiona and team! (Martin Gregory, Franchisee Engagement Manager, IPC EMEA )

Watch the video below to get a first look at how Shakespeare North Playhouse could be the perfect space for your next event!

at a glance

The Cockpit Theatre

Our breathtaking centrepiece. Great for conferences, performances, product launches, live recordings, awards and presentations with wow factor.

Whether your style’s fully scripted, or more improv, hosting in this unique location will ensure your event is truly unforgettable.

The Gallery

Limitless possibilities. Maximum impact. Use this space, with its huge media wall built-in video projection to go big on presenting or to add a dynamic graphic backdrop to your events and celebrations.

Why not… link together with our other ground floor spaces for a dazzling party night, launch event or exhibition private view.

Bar & Kitchen

Take over our ground floor Bar & Kitchen for eating and drinking, with plenty of space to mingle and socialise.

Need more spill-out space? Link with our other areas. Turn the Gallery into your disco, or add the Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden for an al fresco option.

The Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden

Relaxed in-situ tiered seating for up to 120 people. Use the spacious open floor area and go centre-stage for speechmaking, transform it into a dance floor or set a table for sensational outdoor private dining. Add our other ground floor spaces into the mix for a single level, multi-area, indoor-outdoor celebration space for 250 guests.

Meeting Rooms

Sometimes you just need some space. Set your schedule to ‘working elsewhere’ and book one of our rooms for team get-togethers, strategy and action planning sessions or off-site interviews. Perfect for up to 20 people. Book three or more dates to unlock a discount.

The First Floor

Perfect in equal measure for drinks receptions, networking business buffets, awards, celebrations and formal dining events, our light-filled long room is an endlessly adaptable space.

private bar | balcony access for taking the air | expansive views over historic Prescot

The Hub and Foyer

Take advantage of our lofty light-filled space. Split off, then get back together in this in this versatile space, which can be sub-divided to make up to three areas.

Add the connecting foyer for a larger single space or sub-divide for break-out, refreshment or workshop use and post-meeting networking and receptions.

The Studio

With large-scale video projection, superb sound and the option of tiered seating, the studio is super-flexible. Presentations, dinners, dancing and celebrations all sit happily within this space.

Full venue

Got something important to say? Gathering lots of people together? Choose exclusive use of all our spaces for the ultimate whole venue takeover.

Be bold, be brave. Make our Shakespeare North Playhouse all yours.

Interval tours

Need a meeting break-out or away day re-set activity? Explore our past and Prescot’s Shakespearean links during this compact 20 minute heritage tour.